Great Gatsby: The American Dream

A critic once wrote that “the theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American dream.” In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby’s death alludes to the death of the ultimate American dream, self-made success. Gatsby’s failure of realizing who Daisy, his love, really is and the disintegration of his dream of her can also be translated to Fitzgerald’s view of the American dream. In addition to Gatsby’s death and the American dream, the “valley of ashes” is another facet, through which Fitzgerald reveals “the withering of American” society. Fitzgerald illustrates the 20s as an era of moral and social decay, greed, and the empty pursuit of pleasure.
Jay Gatsby is a young man who rose from an impoverished childhood to become immensely wealthy. However, he achieved his opulence by participating in illegal activities, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. Gatsby’s acquaintances are usually gamblers and some borderline gangsters. His close friend Meyer Wolfsheim helped him build his wealth "he's the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919." "Fixed the World's Series?" I repeated. […] "Why isn't he in jail?" "They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart man."(4.73) Gatsby was able to ultimately achieve the American dream; however, the path he had to take to reach this goal demonstrates the corruption that lies in the roots of his wealth, in the roots of the American dream. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of “greatness,” which is reminiscent of “The Great Houdini” and “The Great Blackstone,” insinuating that Gatsby’s persona is a masterful illusion, that the American dream is in fact a withering illusion.
After 1919, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy, making her the single goal of all his dreams and his main motivation. To Gatsby, Daisy represents the epitome of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, and aristocracy that he yearned for. “"Her voice is